You’ve got them, people. And it’s a quick turnaround for Canada’s toughest test of the tournament — a life or death game Wednesday night against the likes of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk. For Sidney Crosby, it’s a chance to renew the great mano-a-mano NHL rivalry with Ovie, but on an Olympic stage.

“It’s going to be intense,” Crosby said, with a big grin.

“There will be no secrets,” said Canadian head coach Mike Babcock. “He (Ovechkin) will be excited. Sid will be excited. As a coach, this is what it’s all about. You’re just thankful to have this game and be involved in it.”

If these are the two best teams here, and many believe so, it’s a shame this isn’t for the gold medal, a shame one will be knocked out Wednesday night. But that’s the Olympic tournament. Better early than not meeting at all.

“It’s going to be crazy,” Russian forward Sergei Fedorov said after Tuesday’s practice. “They are under pressure . . . playing in Canada. It’s not easy, but they have experienced guys and they’ve been through a lot. They are a very, very strong team.”

Back at you, Sergei.

While the Russians have not played their best to this point of the tournament, dropping an overtime game to Slovakia, they rebounded to beat the Czech Republic 4-2 on Super Sunday, providing the Russians a bye to the quarter-finals.

Aside from the obvious goal of advancing, Canada would cherish retribution. The Canadians lost the past two world championships to Russia, and it was the Russians who knocked Canada out of the 2006 Olympic tournament with a 2-0 victory in the quarter-finals. Canada last beat Russia at the 2005 worlds (4-3) and 2004 World Cup (3-1).

Before the pressure-cooker against Russia, the Canadians took some frustrations out on the poor Germans. Fans savoured the rout, and even had the bonus of a penalty shot. (Alas, Crosby missed on the backhand, after shooting in lieu of Rick Nash. What, he’s chopped liver?).

Nash was gracious about not getting to shoot.

“Those are international rules,” he said. “If I was the coach, I would have picked Sidney Crosby, too.”

Asked if he gave the Kid a hard time for missing, Nash quipped: “No, but I will.”

Fans may or may not have seen Shea Weber’s shot rip through the net. It took a video review to award the goal, giving Canada a 2-0 lead early in the second period. Maybe, finally, they saw the emergence of a top line for Canada, as Crosby, Jarome Iginla and Eric Staal did most of the damage. Staal’s crease pass tip-in by Crosby would look against Russia.

Crosby’s ice time was limited to 14:43 to save him for Russia.

Tuesday’s game was stress-free, once the Canadians got going. We won’t say the ice was tilted, exactly, but it was all snowy at one end and clean at the other — the Canadian end. The Germans didn’t register a shot until the latter part of the first period — outshot 14-4 over 20 minutes, and none of the four troubled Canada’s new goaltending saviour, Roberto Luongo. Final shots were 39-23.

Luongo probably could have used a better tune-up as he steps up in class against Russia, but he was called on to make a few saves, including a couple of good chances from the slot late in the second period as the crowd screamed “Loouu!!!” for the Vancouver Canucks goaltender.

Shaking off their stage fright, Germany was better in the middle period, mustering 10 shots to Canada’s 11.

Luongo said he will be ready for the Russian snipers to shoot from anywhere.

“Hopefully (Germany) is not the biggest one this week,” Luongo said.

The Germans were thrilled to break through for a goal late in the second, and it was not encouraging — a wraparound by Marcel Goc, as Luongo was slow getting across. Manuel Klinge scored Germany’s other goal late in the third.

As expected, Canada came right at the Germans.

“They’re pissed off, obviously, and they want to go for gold, so they’re not going to mess around,” forward Marco Sturm, of the Boston Bruins, had said.

The erstwhile invisible Joe Thornton was the first to score, relieving the nervous tension after Canada had failed to score on Thomas Greiss for half of the first period, despite buzzing around him like flies at a picnic. Thornton took a pass from winger Dany Heatley from behind the net and whacked it past Greiss at 10:13, two San Jose Sharks teammates ganging up the Sharks backup goalie.

Skating off after 20 minutes behind just 1-0 was something of a moral victory for the Germans, who admitted it would take a miracle to compete with Canada. In three preliminary round games, the Germans scored just three goals.

Iginla continues to beat up on the weaker teams: three goals on Norway and two against the Germans. Mike Richards, Scott Niedermayer and Nash scored Canada’s final three goals.

The Crosby line will need some of that magic as the stage is set for another round of Canada versus Russia.

Photograph by: Jean Levac, Canwest News Service

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